Education

INDEPENDENCE — Ruth Ross, one of five candidates for the open at-large seat on the Grayson County School Board in a special election on Nov. 8, has announced that she will withdraw from the race.

With her campaign ended, Ross announced her endorsement of fellow candidate Robert Benish.

In an interview with the newspaper on Monday, Ross explained that her decision to drop out of the race came after she and her husband began to consider a move to Washington, in order to be closer to their two grown children and their two grandsons.

HILLSVILLE – Carroll County faces a shortage of bus drivers in the public school system and has implemented an incentive program to try to attract new employees. The incentive includes provisions for new drivers and those current drivers who recruit them.

According to Elizabeth Motley, director of human resources for Carroll County Public Schools, the transportation department is shorthanded all the way around. Last year, Motley realized this could be a problem and took steps to come up with a solution.

HILLSVILLE – Carroll County Public Schools has received more than $300,000 in state and private grants for school security upgrades, the AmeriCorps program and research into extended-year educational programs.

According to a release from Governor Terry McAuliffe’s office, $6 million was awarded to 96 school divisions and five regional educational programs to provide school security equipment to protect students and education professionals.

Four architectural and engineering firms, over the course of two meetings, pitched options for renovating and expanding the existing Galax Elementary School or, in one case, building a new school on property off of Kipling Lane that the school system bought for that purpose.

Attending and evaluating the pitches were members of the Galax School Board and Galax City Council.

Preliminary SOL scores indicate that Galax has again excelled, according to Superintendent Bill Sturgill.

“It’s still unofficial … we scored better in math this year than our three-year average,” he said, noting that “we’re seeing the same trend with English.”

Sturgill informed the Galax School Board about the early results at the Sept. 13 meeting. He said he felt that the targeted remediation classes during mornings during intersession weeks were directly responsible for the upswing.

Brady White, now a senior at Galax High School, picked creating a wooden sign as a shop project in the school’s Career & Technical Education program during his junior year.

The sign, which bears elements related to firefighting, is his gift to the Galax Volunteer Fire Department. “I’m with the fire department,” said White. “I’m an Explorer. I knew the machine was here [at school], and I wanted to do something with it, and this was the first thing I thought of.

INDEPENDENCE — Grayson County Public Schools are celebrating a continued climb in Standards of Learning test scores, after receiving news that six out of seven schools in the system were fully accredited based on the 2015-16 results.

INDEPENDENCE — More than a year after the extent of the Grayson County Public Schools’ budget crisis was revealed, the Grayson County Board of Supervisors has turned over an investigation into the cause of the extreme shortfalls to the Virginia State Police.

The board completed its investigation of the school system’s budget problems on July 27. It included a forensic audit that covered three years of school finances. Some findings have been turned over to state police and commonwealth’s attorney’s office.

INDEPENDENCE – Five candidates filed and qualified last Friday afternoon for the special school board election in Grayson County to fill the unexpired term of the late Tim “T.T.” Carico.

Candidates for the at-large seat on the Grayson County School Board had until 5 p.m. on Aug. 19 to file. They include Tracy A. “Zeke” Anderson, Robert Benish, James Davis and Ruth Ross, all of Independence; and Philip Vaughan of Fries.

INDEPENDENCE — The August meeting of the Grayson County School Board included dedications to two former members of school administration, who were key in positively influencing the direction and growth of the school system.

At the end of the meeting, the board recessed and reassembled at the Grayson County High School’s new weight room, for a special dedication to former school board member Tim “T.T.” Carico.

Carico was elected to the school board this year. He died unexpectedly in July, from injuries sustained in an accident at his home.